Burn Out (19 page)

Jack lived in a nice subdivision close
to the beach. It was a modest neighborhood dotted with colorful
Florida cottages. She followed Stacy’s directions as she drove past
the swimming pool, a children’s playground, and tennis courts. They
parked in front of a pale blue house at the end of a cul-de-sac. As
soon as she rang the bell, dogs starting barking. A petite blonde
with hazel eyes and a nice smile answered the door. She was wearing
an apron decorated with a daisy design.

“
Hi, Stacy. Nice to see you
again.” Stacy introduced Rachel to Jenny. “Nice to meet you. Please
come in,” Jenny said.

“
Thanks for having us
over.”

The home was decorated with seaside
flair with white, denim covered couches and light blue and green
colors. She could see Jack and his kids outside in the back yard
playing, tossing a football.

“
Can I get you some
lemonade?” Jenny offered.

They accepted the sweet, tangy drink
and Jenny led them outside.

“
Hey there,” Jack said as
they walked out onto the deck.

Jenny gave her husband a drink and
took the boys inside. Stacy introduced Jack to Rachel and they all
settled on the Adirondack chairs which overlooked the
lake.

“
I’m sorry to hear about
Mack. Stacy said you were close,” Rachel said.

“
Thank you. I think we are
all still in shock.”

“
I appreciate you letting
us come over. I’m sure Stacy told you my background and what we are
doing to find Samantha. I can’t help but wonder if Mack’s car
accident wasn’t planned.”

“
I have to say the thought
crossed my mind a couple of times as well. Until we get the
coroner’s report back, I don’t want to jump to conclusions.” Jack
paused. “Why do you think Mack’s death wasn’t an
accident?”

Rachel wasn’t ready to disclose what
they found at Millers Lake. “There is something about Paul I don’t
like. I think he has something to do with all this.”

“
Funny you mention that.
Mack repeated the same sentiment last night.” Jack looked at Stacy
for verification.

“
Yes, he said he had gone
to Paul’s house a couple of days ago to talk to him about Sam. He
said something was bugging him the whole time he was there, but he
couldn’t put his finger on it,” Stacy said. “It finally dawned on
him last night.”

“
What was it?”

“
When Mack was leaving
Paul’s house, he saw a tool Paul had just bought,” Jack
responded.

“
A Halligan bar?” Rachel
asked.

Jack looked surprised. “Yes, how did
you know?”

“
I have been working with
Jeff Stanton and he called me early this morning. He said the tool
marks left at the scene matched the marks of the other arson cases.
He speculated it was some type of crow bar. Possibly a Halligan
bar.”

“
Mack thought the same
thing. He asked Paul what happened with his old tool bar when he
noticed a new one in his house. Paul said his old one was stolen.
Mack asked me to check to see if Paul reported it stolen – like he
said he had – but it wasn’t true,” Jack said.

“
Why would Paul lie about
his tool being stolen?”

“
He is trying to hide
something.”

“
I should go visit Paul
again,” Rachel said.

“
Chief Gladstone needs to
know about this. I’ll call him and see what’s going on with the
case.”

“
I don’t think we can wait
for that.”

“
Well, you can probably
find him at his fishing cabin. I would check there
first.”

“
Do you know where it
is?”

“
Sure. I’ve been up to his
cabin a couple of times with some of the guys during hunting
season. I can give you directions. It is about an hour from
here.”

Juniper Lake, Wednesday
noon

“
Are we sure the fishing
cabin is this way? This road is leading to nowhere,” Rachel
said.

“
Yes, this is the right
way.” Stacy consulted the directions Jack gave them. “This is so
out in the boonies the GPS doesn’t even register the
place.”

Just as she said that, the road opened
up to a large field with a small cabin beside a lake. The cabin was
made of logs and had a wide front porch with two rocking chairs on
one side and a wooden bench on the other. A planter box adorned the
window panes that looked like they once held beautiful
flowers.

“
Looks like no one is
here,” Mike said. “I don’t see Paul’s truck.”

“
That’s a good thing. We
can snoop around a bit.” Rachel stepped out of the truck. She
walked up to the front door and tried the knob. “It’s
unlocked.”

“
I would knock first. You
know. Don’t want to get shot or anything,” Stacy said. “Red
wouldn’t like it if we came back without you.” Red had stayed
behind to look after Maggie and catch up on some paperwork while
they came up to the cabin.

She softly knocked on the door. “No
answer.” She opened the door cautiously. “Hello,” she called
out.

“
Let me go first.” Mike
walked in with Rachel and Stacy following.

“
He must have been here
recently. It still smells like breakfast,” Rachel said. “Bacon and
eggs, I’m guessing.” She looked around the room. The place was
clean and tidy. A small, worn couch sat in the middle of the room
with a Lazy Boy recliner in front of fireplace. On the coffee table
were various, worn, hunting and fishing magazines. Off to the
right, was a tiny kitchen with a two-top table and chairs. On the
left side of the room was a hallway which led to two closed
doors.

“
That must be the bedroom
and a bath.” Stacy headed down the hallway.

Stacy opened one of the doors. It was
the bedroom. The queen bed had been hastily made with a quilt
bunched up and two throw pillows placed by the headboard. There was
a half empty glass of water on the nightstand, along with a bottle
of Tylenol. She opened the other door and walked into the bathroom.
The sink was still wet and a damp towel hung from the towel
bar.

“
Someone was just here,”
Stacy called out. “But no sign of Samantha.” She pointed to the wet
towels and used bar of soap.

“
Well, we didn’t pass
Paul’s truck on the way out unless he went the other way,” Mike
said, coming up behind her.

“
Let’s take a look around
outside.” Rachel led the way out from the back door off the
kitchen. She viewed a path which led down to the lake. Mike opened
up the trash cans by the back door.

“
Why are there latches on
the top of the lids?” Rachel wondered out loud.

“
Raccoons probably. They
are smart little buggers and like to get in the trash,” Mike said,
digging around in the trash bag.

“
What are you doing?”
Rachel asked, wrinkling her nose at the smell.

“
You can learn a lot by
looking in someone’s trash,” Stacy said.

“
You sound like you’ve done
that before. Yuck.”

“
He must have emptied it
recently. Just some beer cans and food,” Mike said.

They looked around the yard. “Nice
little retreat Paul has here. Let’s walk down to the lake,” Rachel
suggested.

There was a worn and heavily used path
which lead them around to the water’s edge. The lake was a
beautiful emerald green color with a sandy bottom.

“
Florida has the most
beautiful lakes I’ve ever seen,” Stacy said.

Mike crouched down to the ground.
“Lots of footprints. Maybe recent, hard to tell.” The sandy path
was covered with them.

“
Looks like two sets,”
Rachel said.

“
Man and woman?” Mike said.
“See the size difference? And look at the direction of the prints.
The larger one goes both ways. ”

“
And the smaller set of
prints only heads towards the direction of the lake,” Rachel
said.

“
Paul had some company.
Let’s see where they lead to.”

They started following the prints down
to the lake and then they stopped by the edge of the
lake.

“
Here they pick back up,”
Stacy yelled.

“
Let’s see where this
leads. Maybe one of you should stay back at the cabin for look
out.”

Stacy said, “I’ll go back and wait.”
She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “Shit, no cell
service.”

Rachel and Mike looked at their cell
phones. “Same here,” Rachel said as Mike nodded his head, too.
“There is a whistle in my backpack. I left it in the
truck.”

Mike tossed her the truck keys and
laughed. “And if a whistle isn’t enough, I have a loaded Glock in
the glove compartment. You know how to shoot?”

“
Yes, I do.”

“
Good. Whistle if you need
us. Use the gun in an emergency.”

“
Right. Got it.” Stacy
turned back around and headed towards the cabin.

Rachel and Mike carefully made their
way through the thick brush following the trail and the
footprints.

“
What do you think about
the two sets of prints? Paul has an accomplice? Or is it Sam’s?”
Rachel said.

“
I would like to think the
latter.”

Rachel nodded in agreement.

The trees were thick and provided
shade from the overbearing sun. It gave the effect of approaching
darkness and there was a distinct chill in the air.

“
We should have brought a
flashlight with us. The more we head down this path, the darker it
gets,” Mike said, brushing a branch out of his way. “How’s your
ankle holding up?”

“
Good, so far. I wonder how
long…” Rachel started to say as she slipped on something and landed
flat on her butt.

“
Ouch. What the hell was
that?” She reached around and rubbed the side of her
hip.

“
Woah. You okay?” Mike held
out his hand to help her up.

“
Yeah, I’m fine.” Rachel
looked down at the path. There was a shiny object protruding from
the sandy path. Mike reached down and picked it up.

“
A wine corkscrew. That’s
weird,” he said.

“
It could have come from
the cabin. Let’s keep going.”

After a few hundred feet the footsteps
stopped.

“
Looks like they go off
path here,” Mike said.

There was a small like tunnel of
undergrowth that went through the heavy pine trees. Mike had to
hunch down to go through. Rachel followed him. He came to a
standstill. “Is that what I think it is?”

A small structure was almost invisible
from the trail because it was covered in thick brush and shielded
by all the pine trees. A wooden door with a heavy latch on the
front stood in front of them.

“
It looks like an old
cabin,” Rachel said. She started to step up to door when a loud
gunshot rang out through the woods. She jumped back in
surprise.

“
What the hell? Stacy?” She
turned around to face Mike.

“
I don’t know,” Mike said.
“It could’ve been a hunter. Hard to tell where it came
from.”

Rachel turned back to the door. She
wanted to go in and take a look, but the thought of Stacy in
trouble was too much.

“
We can always come back.
Let’s go check on Stacy,” Mike said. “Stay low and follow me.”
Rachel followed Mike’s lead as they made their way back to the
other cabin. The thick trees and undergrowth made a great
camouflage for them.

“
Why do I get myself in
these messes? I always wind up with the psychos,” Rachel
mumbled.

“
Shhh. Keep quiet and move
faster,” Mike whispered.

“
Easy for you. You don’t
have a sprained ankle.”

“
Sorry, Rach. I
forgot.”

They came back to the clearing by the
lake and Mike stopped suddenly.

“
What?” Rachel
whispered.

“
I see someone. Just stay
behind me,” Mike said as he reached down and got his pistol out of
his ankle holster.

“
Wait! It’s Stacy.” Rachel
pointed.

Stacy was running towards them with
the whistle in her hand.

“
Just stay down. Someone
may be following her,” Mike said.

It was hard for Rachel not to run
toward Stacy. She wasn’t sure if she was in trouble of not. In a
few seconds she was upon them at the trail.

“
What was that?” Rachel
asked as Stacy got close. It took her a minute to answer her, she
was so out of breath.

“
I don’t know. I was just
getting back to the cabin when I heard the gunshot. I couldn’t tell
where it was coming from. I didn’t see anyone or hear any vehicles.
I hid behind a tree for a few minutes until I could get the courage
to come after you guys.” Stacy was gasping for air. “I thought
maybe someone was after you, so I came looking for you.”